Steve Shields had a good run

He won more games than any coach in Little Rock history, and he did it without all the negative drama that surrounds so many coaches. His players generally did well in school and kept their noses clean - and if they did not, he was not afraid to encourage them to move on down the road. Shields was a coach you could root for without having your conscience bother you, and that is saying a lot these days. You did not have to hold our nose to be a Trojan fan while Steve Shields was coach.

This should have been a year when we won big, but we did not. Even with the injury to James White, we ought to have done better than we did. Put that together with the general stagnation of recent seasons, and the move to dismiss Shields was inevitable.

It is sad, because if White does come back full speed, the pieces are there for a good season next year, and the new coach likely will reap the acclaim of what Shields put together, but could not manage successfully. Such is the risk of coaching.

And so we move on. Thanks, Coach, for some very pleasant memories.